No testing required prior to discharge of asymptomatic Covid-19 patients

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, September 19

Covid-19 patients, who are deemed clinically fit, will not be tested for the novel coronavirus before being discharged from a care centre as per the revised  policy notified by the Himachal Pradesh Government on September 16.

Earlier, patients were screened before being discharged from a Covid facility. They were tested after 10 days of their admission to a care centre and re-tested after every five days till they returned a negative sample.

The  Indian Council of Medical Research had in its advisory dated September 4 highlighted that no testing was recommended prior to discharge from a Covid-19 facility after clinical recovery as per the evolving scientific evidence.

Health officials informed that the directions would be applicable for mild and moderate Covid patients who are asymptomatic.

Majority of the cases detected in Solan district, which has the highest number of patients in the state, are found to be asymptomatic. Depending on their immunity level, patients generally recover within 15 to 20 days.

Additional Chief Secretary, Health, RD Dhiman, said, “As many as 94.5 per cent patients are found asymptomatic in the state and all states were following these directions but we kept testing patients multiple times which was not required. It was a huge burden on testing and human resource infrastructure.”

As per the new policy, patients with mild or very mild infection admitted to a Covid care facility will undergo regular temperature and pulse oximetry monitoring. They can be discharged after 10 days of symptom onset and no fever for three days.

No testing would be required prior to their discharge, as per the new policy.

Patients with moderate infection can be discharged after 10 days if their symptoms resolve within three days of their admission to a Covid health centre and maintain oxygen saturation above 95 per cent for the next four days. They should not be having fever and breathlessness and there should be no oxygen requirement.

Such patients will be advised to isolate themselves at home and self-monitor their health for seven days, said Health officials.

Meanwhile, patients on oxygenation and with fever that does not resolve within three days, and require oxygen therapy, would be discharged only after resolution of clinical symptoms. They should be able to maintain oxygen saturation for three consecutive days, said the Health officials, adding that clinical recovery would be key criteria for their discharge and they should test negative at least once in the RT-PCR testing.

Health officials also opined that since breathlessness was seen as a major cause of concern in the Covid patients, oxymeter should be provided to the patients so that they can monitor their oxygen level.

Himachal Pradesh has a recovery rate of 60 per cent with 7,054 out of 11,600 cases being cured of the viral infection so far. The state has also reported 108 deaths.